Essential Water Workouts for Burning Fat

A swimming pool provides one of the best fat burning workouts. That’s because water is 800 times thicker than air, so every time you kick, pull, or push the water, you’re doing a resistance workout, which burns fat and leads to lean muscle and an increased metabolism.

If you want to use your pool to get a workout, here are some great workouts designed for all levels.

Beginner Swimming Pool Exercises.

If you’re just starting your fitness routine, some of the exercises you can do in your pool are:

Simple swimming.

You will be surprise at how effective swimming relaxed laps in the pool is for burning fat and toning muscles. A relaxed swim burns more or less 500 calories an hour.

Start with a few laps, take a break and swim more. Your goal is to swim laps without taking a break.

The bicycle.

Support your elbows on the side of the pool and use your legs to “pedal” a fictional bicycle. This will burn fat, and help strengthen your core, shoulders, and legs.

The dolphin.

Work out your core, legs, and back by grabbing the edge of the pool with your left hand and putting your right hand, fingers pointing down, just underneath the water line. Next, with your legs held together, let them float up and begin kicking like a dolphin.

Bonus Beginner Workout:

The ball.

Work out your core and burn belly fat by standing with your right leg bent and your left leg pushed back. Hold a ball with both hands placing in front of your tummy. Hold for 30 seconds, and then switch legs. Do this five times on each side.

Moderate Swimming Pool Exercises

Ready to take things up a notch? Add these workouts to your pool fitness routine:

Moderate swimming.

If you can easily swim a few laps, you can not only add in more laps at a faster pace, but you can also mix in some other strokes to work out different parts of your body.

For example, the backstroke works your back and shoulder muscles, while the breaststroke works your inner thigh muscles and hips.

Sprint.

Lean on the edge of the pool with your elbows and, with your legs straight and held together, lift them up until they reach the top of the water and then lower them.

The resistance from the water makes this an effective exercise and will help strengthen your core while burning fat.

Tuck jump.

Stand in the water and jump, bringing your knees up to your chest. Doing this in multiple sets will help trim your legs and strengthen your core.

To make it more difficult, don’t allow your feet to touch the bottom of the pool, but tread water in-between jumps.

Bonus Moderate Workout:

Bicycle with a twist.

If doing the bicycle at the edge of the pool is too easy for you, make it more difficult by using a noodle to sit on while “cycling” across the pool.

Your abs will have to work hard to keep you balanced, and your legs will work even harder to power you across the pool.